Smartphone, Wireless, and Mobile Technologies Forum

As big-splash debuts go, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 launch at AT&T and T-Mobile didn't exactly make waves Monday. Even with a glitzy media intro last month hosted by champion inside-seller and company chief Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, which spent a reported $100 million on the phone's advertising campaign, sold a mere 40,000 Windows 7 phones Monday, according to a market research source who tracks phone sales.

The anemic sales number does not include the 89,000 Microsoft employees that will be given free Windows 7 phones.

Microsoft reps declined to comment. A T-Mobile spokeswoman did not offer a number of phones sold, but said Tuesday that the Win7 phone was "already receiving strong interest from our customers right out of the gate."

ie: Microsoft hasn't announced anything, so the sales must be bad. Android's outselling it 15:1, so the sales must be bad. There are some discounts and two for one, so it must be bad. (but are people responding to the discounts?) Some of the models have been out of stock due to strong demand, so sales must be okay.